On The Needles

In the spirit of Nicole's KKCO (Keep Calm Craft On) blog series, I am sharing what's currently on my needles.

I teach a handful of classes at my wonderful local yarn shop each season.  Next up on my schedule are the adorable and super simple, Give a Hoot mittens.  With just a couple of easy cables and a few buttons, the mittens come to life as amazing little owls.  Brilliant!  This pair is a sample for the class I will be teaching.  I thought the orange would be fun with little turquoise buttons.  The yarn is Cascade's Superwash 220.  It's such a great, workhorse yarn.

 

I knit a pair as a gift for a dear friend's birthday last year and she loved them.

I am totally smitten with the Owls and Owlet sweaters by the amazingly talented Scottish designer,  Kate Davies too.  But, holy buckets!  That's a whole lot of buttons to sew on!  Not sure I am feeling that just yet.

The Name Game

We have a little game that we play at our house after I dye a batch of yarn.  For lack of a more creative name, we simply call it the "Name Game".  Everyone deeply contemplates the color of a particular skein of my hand dyed yarn.  Then, we all make suggestions as to what we think it should be called.  My seven year old son comes up with some pretty amazing and fitting names that I almost always end up using in my shop.

Like Merlin for this yarn...

Rhubarb for this yarn...

Or Galaxy for this one...

My four year old, on the other hand, is a tad more creative.  Here are a few of his recent suggestions...

Dirt (Makes you want to buy this one, doesn't it?)...

Toad (rrrrrribbit)...

I saved the best for last...  

drumroll, please....

Baby Poo (not sure where he has seen any of that in this particular color)...

Maybe I should do a little test and rename a few of these yarns.  Who knows.  Maybe someone is looking for that perfect shade of baby poo yarn for their next project!   

Bicycles Revisited...

I am loving Etsy's video featurettes.

This one's especially cool...
Handmade Portraits: Chain Reaction from Etsy on Vimeo.

Lucky Girl

A beautiful, functional birthday gift has arrived a little early.  

The swift was created using mostly reclaimed materials for a cost of about $10.00.  It is designed specifically to wind yarn from a cone to a hank.  And, I must say, it works perfectly!

It certainly pays to have a talented woodworker for a husband.  Thanks, sweetie.

For the Love of Lace

Lace knitters will be happy to see a new collection of colorful lace yarns being added to the shop soon!  The base yarn is a gorgeous, drapey,  80% merino wool / 20% tussah silk.  The generous yardage (984 yds / 100g skein) is enough to knit an entire shawl.

My first batch of this yarn was dyed up a vivid "traffic stripe" yellow at the request of an amazingly talented lace knitter, Joan.  She quickly whipped it up into the awe inspiring Henry Street Shawl.

The Best Kid's Sock Pattern Evah!!

Okay....I will admit...It wasn't until I had been knitting for several years that I attempted my first pair of socks.  I really don't know why.  For some reason I had this fear of them.  The tiny needles.  The heel turn.  All the sock knitters that I knew had their preferred method of knitting socks and were adamant that I should, "knit two at a time toe up, magic loop" or "double points, cuff down" or "on two circulars", etc.  There were too many options and I was thoroughly confused.  Therefore, I just put it off.  

Fast forward to January 2011, I was stuck in the lodge on a family ski trip to Monarch Mountain in CO.  I had torn the meniscus in my knee skiing earlier that season and was out of commission for the remainder of the winter.  Needless to say, I had lots of time to focus on a new project.  It seemed like the perfect opportunity to try sock knitting.  I used Claire Montgomery's "Child's Simple Socks" pattern from the book, "Easy Kids Knits".  The pattern was cuff down and called for using size 1 double pointed needles.  However, I did not have DPN's that size.  So, I improvised and used the magic loop method on a long circular needle.  The socks turned out okay, but the magic loop felt fiddly and time consuming (constantly pulling that long cable through my work).  I was determined to stick with it, however, and immediately cast on another pair.  This time I thought I would try two-at-a-time, toe-up.  I liked the idea of being able to just knit until I ran out of yarn - not worrying about running out before getting to the toe.  I used the "Sample Sock" pattern from Melissa Morgan-Oake's "Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks" book.  The socks knit up quickly, as they called for worsted weight yarn.  They turned out fine. But, I still wasn't feeling the magic loop.  

More than a year later, I came across Susan B. Anderson's free "Ribbed Socks for Kids" pattern on her blog.  I figured it was high time I tried a pair of socks on double points.  The socks flew off my needles and were so fun and easy to knit.  They fit my son's feet like a dream and he declared them the "Best Socks Evah!!!"  It only took me 6 years of knitting and several methods to determine that the old standby...cuff down, DPN is the way to go for me!  I love these socks and will likely never knit a different method again.  Now I understand what the fuss is all about.  Knitting socks rocks!  They get tons of use and are so fast and portable to knit.  Yay for socks!!!  And thanks, Susie, for writing an awesome pattern!   

Susan B. Anderson's "Ribbed Socks for Kids" pattern knit in 

Luna Grey Fiber Arts Hand Dyed Wool Nylon Sock Yarn in the colorway "Parakeet" 

The Name

Hello Knitters (and crocheters, of course)!

Luna Grey Fiber Arts is growing up....A blog of our own!  How very cool.  Lets start by telling the story of the company name....

"Luna" is the name of our beloved retired racing greyhound.  We adopted her two years ago through Colorado Greyhound Adoption.  Her official racing name was LC's She's a Gypsy.  That was a little long winded, so we decided instead to call her "Luna".  Luna is the sweetest, most affectionate, loyal, gentle dog.  She loves to keep me company in my dye studio.  Therefore, I thought it fitting that her name work its way into my shop name.  "Grey", of course, comes from greyhound (thus the "e" rather than an "a" in grey).  I liked the way it sounded and it just stuck.

Now you know : )